resentment is still bubbling outside the presidential palace in cairo as egypt's president morsi refuses to back down from his controversial political drive during a long awaited address to the nation. united add logs to rubble join present assad and dismissing washington's chemical weapons fears as nothing more than media games while u.s. invasion fetus is poised on syria's border. plus one step forward one step back and just as the americans senator slashes of cold war era nor limiting trade it approves a visa ban on surging russian officials provoking promise of a similar move from moscow.

you know what you must go live for you know what you are to live for moscow rather with me to bomb would say we start off in egypt where the long and dissipated state address by egypt's president morsi has failed to silence the angry voices on the streets of cairo apologises claim he's still ignored big key demands by volume to push on with the reverend i'm on an islamist led constitution on that from cairo based reporter. president mohamed morsi basically stuck by his decisions he said in his speech he said this consulate curation which was very contentious very people described it as a power grab was essential basically in the transition period to democracy and very important protecting the constituent assembly which drafted the constitution to the we get to this point we're going to have a referendum on the constitution next week he also blames. parties for the violence

that we saw on the streets in cairo on wednesday between anti and pro brotherhood supporters he said better third parties backed by foreign funding had infiltrated the groups and caused the violence and he blamed some opposition groups he said those serving the remnants of the former regime to overthrow his legitimacy authority and basically rejected any use of violence in the form of protesting however he did call for dialogue he asked opposition forces to meet him on saturday the eight to december to talk through some of the points that they have with this constitution and he said he might as well step back to an article six of the contentious constitution that duration which basically said that as the president he could do pretty much anything in the in the interest of protecting the nation thousands gathered at the presidential palace in opposition to president morsi is decision my colleague tom barton who was there on the scene and has this report

some of the protesters behind me are trying to move the barricades that have been put up by the army in front of the presidential palace. very tense stand off fairly large crowd. chanting slogans such as we want the downfall of the regime calling all see. how much more seems. the other side. and there was this it was a standoff between pro and anti mohamed morsi which. some of the country's top judges and the opposition like the people here on one side very much against the iraq they say doesn't provide rights for minorities the women in egypt and mohamed morsi and his muslim brotherhood supporters on the other side of things the opposite i think that's one suggestion it's just the coalition of opposition forces who are running a city into the national revolution front issued

a statement saying that they would not have dialogue with the president until he rescinds his decree there also unfortunately violent clashes in other parts of the city outside the muslim brotherhood headquarters which was reportedly torched so really at the moment here in egypt there hasn't been there is a lot of anger and it still remains very divided president morsi has said his powers outlined in the constitutional decree war automatically end after a referendum on the country's constitution later this month but dr will lead fluoresce a counterterrorism adviser to the u.s. congress says morsi has a very strong position to back down from his authority. the country is clearly split but mr morsi is strong because he has many institutions under his control the parliament the presidency the upper layer of the army now has replaced many officers in his calculations on december the fifteenth he will win because the most organized force now in egypt at least for the next few months is the muslim

brotherhood and their allies the salafist they've gotten a majority in the parliament with allies of course they've got the president elected with allies and now some of his allies have abandoned him but they don't have the strength to organize and reach out to citizens the way the muslim brotherhood have so this looks like a recipe for a long. civil uprising against the government i am not sure that this is going to go immediately into what people think could be a civil war on less acts of violence are going to continue day after day and that's what there's no morsi was concerned about. the path to europe's heart it seems begins under the blackfeet believe that holds natural gas for it says russia begins laying a new pipeline all the way to the center of the ukraine union that's ahead. the chemical scare on syria is receiving a skeptical response not only from us of government but now the very people seeking

to bring him down a singer rebel official has dismissed washington's reports that assad was arming chemical warheads say it was all part of a media game but as always he's going to cheat again reports even fabricated allegations can prove deadly. u.s. officials said intelligence agencies have detected that assad's government has been preparing its chemical weapons stockpiles for possible use the obama administration's message to syria the u.s. is ready to act if you make the tragic mistake of using these weapons there will be consequences and you will be held accountable there will be consequences. there will be consequences we have sent a an unmistakable message that this would cross a red line next how does america the media quickly picked up on the alarming news of the syrian government's alleged plans citing secret intelligence for fox news confirms that syrian troops now have the deadly nerve agent sarin gas weaponized

and at the ready the syrian government flatly denied the possibility saying they would not use such weapons against its people. we would not commit suicide we feel there's a conspiracy to provide a pretext for any subsequent interventions in syria by these countries during creasing pressure on syria. the syrian government sure knows that if they use chemical weapons it would give nato and some of their arab neighbors who are itching to intervene in syria the green light to go ahead with their plans america's itself says it would be suicidal for them to do so but with the fear and the hype building up over the use of chemical weapons against civilians in syria it seems the u.s. might be preparing grounds to jump the gun on this one the jumping the gun scenario is not new for the u.s. almost twenty years ago the bush administration confidently presented false evidence to invade iraq america's cited bogus intelligence on saddam hussein's chemical weapons that never existed the invasion triggered

a civil war that killed more than one hundred thousand innocent iraqis and years later all washington had to say about this was the president thought it was correct congress thought it was of course i regret that it turned out a lot of it was wrong in the run up to the iraq invasion to us media was instrumental in selling the case to the public the congress never had any proof ever present ever of weapons of mass destruction all came from tony blair to the bush and congress who writes now that the us has drawn a red line on syria it has made it clear it's ready to take action but how i'm not going to telegraph in any specifics what we would do in the event of. credible evidence that the assad regime has resorted to using chemical weapons against their own people but suffice it to say we are certainly planning to.

take action if that eventuality were to occur two american warships are already near the syrian coast with some ten thousand. u.s. marines and dozens of fighter jets on board on top of that nato is sending american german and dutch batteries of patriot anti-aircraft missiles to turkey's border with syria meaning hundreds more u.s. and european troops will be deployed to the frontier nato says deploying patriot missiles along syrian borders is a defensive step to prevent syria from attacking turkey i don't think there's any requirement whatsoever for patriot batteries on the ground in turkey but given the patriot missiles are designed to really protect primarily against incoming fire ballistic missiles to recruit the syrians are not true turks the turks the turks are the most powerful military establishment in the region the largest army in nato intervention in syria will be as bad if not worse than what we experienced in iraq the pentagon said they would need seventy five thousand troops to secure syria's

weapons of mass destruction the question on everyone's mind is are they seriously considering that kind of a mess of intervention because that could mean another you rock coming soon an invasion that could be followed by years of bloody civil war in washington i'm going to check on. and while the world focuses on the us of chemical arms some rebels are cooking up and testing their online we've got the story about how a legend rebels gas on rabbits threatening to do the same to us at the border. there's a fresh diplomatic spat between russia and the u.s. after the american senate approved a travel ban on certain russian officials accused of human rights violations its calls and promises of an eye for an eye response from moscow as artie's lucic half an hour reports. the diplomatic row was sparked by a provision a controversial provision and us passed legislation that essentially normalizes

trade relations between the two countries is the magnitsky act after moscow attorney who tragically died in two thousand and nine russian custody the legislation seeks to name and shame russian officials allegedly involved in corruption and effect effectively forbids them from traveling to and investing in the united states now this move was met with a furious response here in moscow with the russian foreign ministry saying publicly that it is nothing quote but a vindictive desire to counter russia in world affairs it is quote perplexing and prosperous to hear human rights complaints from the united states where torture and kidnappings are illegal in the twenty first century they went on to tweet that quote apparently washington has forgotten what year it is and still thinks the cold war is going on the u.s. decision to impose visa and financial sanctions on certain russian citizens is like something out of the theater of the absurd russian foreign minister say to sergey

lavrov had said that in response russia will be imposing a similar travel ban against american officials accused of human rights violations now we know that this could have been of course a more joyous day for the two countries democrats gas was tacked on to the repeal of the so-called jackson that an amendment to this has was imposed in the one nine hundred seventy s. and affectively was a result of the cold war but now that russian trade relations are normalized we do have this new diplomatic spat over the magnitsky act now the reaction in europe to this has been quite mixed we heard from two former british foreign secretaries who have called for a similar ban to be imposed in the u.k. meanwhile the french ambassador here in moscow had said that his country is not going to be following suit with that kind of legislation so again mixed reaction but certainly a lot of fear. and negative feelings between the two former cold war the united

states and moscow. there's a very tasty way in asia but they may be just. about the flight. three hundred pounds india and china are struggling to share regional resources. it's perched atop a jaw and the view from the kremlin stretches as far as the eye can see. for a city to siberia for centuries. it lost its economic importance even before it was bypassed but a chance. but a spiritual. things like these are a yearly occurrence thousands of worship implicity will to commemorate the

baptismal jesus. in the fifteen eighties the russians had only just. taking it from the muslims. surrounded by enemies to be their stronghold constructed on top of the city but soon enough it became an economic hub. bringing in a third of. of the says for the russians the russians. a revolt against the eight hundred twenty five known as the decembrists. they created a replica high society adopting the latest fashions as soon as they came out or at least once they made it from paris to siberia. but the city also set up some. of the russian royal family after the bolshevik revolution. this is the office was

nicholas the second spend most of the last year of his life his whole family had been exiled here they were the fairly comfortable existence this was a big house but they weren't allowed to see visitors or go outside themselves whilst leaving this ordinary normal countryside lifestyle. but within the year the czar of his family would be dead. sure is that so much of that resentment is a lot of people on the rise of civilizations for over a century there are big predictions of western decline given the global financial crisis that started in two thousand eight. hundred grams and documentaries in arabic it's all here. to tell the world talks

specifically r.p. interview intrigued to. see arabic to find out more visit arabic. he watching our team it will be all go for south stream later today with construction all the young disney pipeline set to begin at another shell ceremony the project's a joint undertaking by europe's biggest energy giants and is expected to set its weibo south and eastern europe separate for gas i t's made in

a question of what has more now on the multi-billion euro job. this called winter day in may not seem like it but this beach is a gateway to fun and sun the sun when you russians during their holidays and now this place will also become a gateway for russian gas into europe this day march the start of the construction of one of the most ambitious and certainly expanse of energy supply systems on earth now the pipeline if you pipeline will go directly from the black sea to bulgaria and on to greece italy and austria the project was dreamed up under the idea the more the merrier in other words the more pipelines the more secure the delivery to customers will be now it's a need that arose from transit countries ukraine in particular destructive deliveries on the number of occasions in the past fifty percent of the pipeline will be owned by russian allergy giant gazprom the rest of it with its leave france

and germany however may need a euro question whether this project is if the media critics say that a whopping twenty billion dollars cost for a pipeline is way too much especially in current times of economic recession but it seems these fears are not enough to stop a project like this was the big question will be hoping beyond the choppy waters that you face of our own the very seat they will be going directly and. they're just seeing a battle for resources as well with the two regional powerhouse us china and india meeting ever more fuel to feed their hungry growing hunger but as a nation squabbles over who gets the biggest slice of the oil and gas cakes they could be others waiting to sneak in and pinch the lot and as our cheesy got he's going off reports new delhi and beijing are heading for game over if they don't find common ground. and i mean the arise economically their military muscles are

growing as well both need energy to keep that kind of growth going and that may be putting the two asian giants on a collision course because of the mess that nationalism the indian government cannot afford to be seem to be reek in dealing with china obviously a higher power with government. over two hundred billion barrels of oil and large amounts of natural gas that's more than the vast majority of the world's energy rich nations have all hidden under the south china sea china claims most of the territory for itself but india has also managed to get access by buying a stake in a vietnamese gas field shortly after hanoi accused chinese boats of sandwich dodging exploration india warned it's ready to use force to defend its interests hopefully as i said the should not be leading to a longer term conflict but it's it's an inevitable because both countries now large ambitions of becoming blowhole actors and players both china

and india have been pumping billions of u.s. dollars into their armies and navies holding drills on a regular basis and beijing has also announced its police will soon start to board and inspect foreign vessels surely the vast oil reserves in the south china sea are just too big of a cash for now they're trying not working here to pass up what they really want to accomplish between the two economic power houses so is it really a game that neither can win the two asian giants can't afford any weaknesses and that would make it easier for other countries to take a bite of the vast resources the u.s. has long been increasing its economic and military presence in the region this ng is there west strike to pick this expansion by bolt in the china last. four balls that the less. that wall is a military clash. powerhouses q.

and she. will go to some other players already prowling on the sidelines. to some other world news in brief now five people have been taken to hospital after a one metre high to nami hit then we argue problems in japan was triggered by a seven point three magnitude earthquake that struck on the eastern coast with aftershocks felt as far away as the country's capital the tsunami alert has since been lifted in two thousand and eleven a similar quake in the same area saw a massive nuclear disaster at the fukushima plant following its meltdown. recusal have closure with the police in athens as they took to the streets marking the fourth anniversary of a deadly police shooting security officers had to resort to tear gas to disperse the angry mob of three people were arrested in two thousand and eight a police when shot dead a fifteen year old teenager which triggered a massive protests and saw the officer jailed for life two years later.

stein's a ruling communist party has invited its rival for todd to its twenty fifth anniversary celebrations in gaza it's the first time such an invitation has been made in more than a decade and is being viewed as a sign of warming relations between the two parties hamas and fatah have clashed to bridge their differences following israel's latest military operation which killed over a hundred people. russia's prime minister has rebuffed accusations that the government is tightening the screws in the country saying that critics of new legislations just don't want to live by the rules the statement was made during dmitri medvedev skew in a session was some of russia's main media outlets. has more on this. well one of the most important questions asked by journalists was concerning you tough legislation in russia and the accusations from the opposition that these laws the

new laws are being somewhat ever over the reaction to mass protest and are being repressive and. that question the prime minister came up with a very stern on the feedback which. people often say that legislation is repressive and anti liberal or something else or kind of it's just as an excuse not to abide by a civil penalty so they decided you know this law was designed to stop some political tendency therefore i won't follow it i think that when this approach is wrong we have to be law abiding citizen associated with one of the above mentioned laws concerned the activities of foreign n.g.o.s in the country and as a result of this legislation being being introduced in russia the us aid organization the united states agency for international development was shown the door for what the foreign ministry believed to be manipulating the electoral process that happened in october and the prime minister said that this new regulations concerning the n.g.o.s activities in russia is nothing different to how

it's being done everywhere across the world in particular in the united states. but it's not we're not talking about expelling these so-called agencies and labeling them as illegal god forbid what we're trying to say is that extra rules will be applied to those who carry out political activities in russia and are funded from abroad and these rules will be just the same as used by any other state in the world could you imagine if an american n.g.o.s received money from the russian budget i mean i think it will cause a national scandal also the prime minister touched upon the fight against corruption in russia especially after a huge corruption scandal erupted in the defense ministry with the defense minister being sacked after wards he said that the fight will continue despite that it sometimes may harm the ruling party's image and that no official may feel safe from facing punishment who should be found guilty of embezzlement or any other illegal activities in their respective governmental bodies. coming up the clash and cross

talkers peter lavelle's gets to grade whether the whole western world has reached its peak of development and the only way now is down. the legacy no one should be proud. of scrap metal littering pristine arctic landscape building stilton over their foundation pipes spewing black smoke over the snow covered peaks the traces of the soviet industrial activity on the burgen archipelago don't make a pretty picture the guiding principle here is the worse the better locals like to tell the story that back in soviet times when no regions were visiting barons were they also expressed. at how prosperous the settlement was well times have obviously kenya where they saw it lags they still attracting the region tourists or barons work i would then cons watch native cash that's why while. our

goal is common as was uncovered here a few days ago instead of drawing it that way the local administration decided to paint a bit here and put it at variance with central square that in the nine hundred eighty s. there was a burgeoning mining community. was determined to maintain its own costs. are located halfway between north america and western europe bergen archipelago is part of norway with a special status that allows other countries to set up industrial bases here in the middle of the cold war it served as the use of western most outposts now it's one of the last preserved relics. of the soviet union if it was cut off from any financial support for two decades. for western tourists and i think it could be even more appealing for russia's trying. to keep its presence on spitsbergen russian film until coal mine here but

in terms of profit is far behind local shops so between. bill it is a big hit the defunct aren't curtain still helps keep the money flowing guys it's the russians doing your show but you can't play rubbles they're also. your local administration is increasingly under pressure to bring the infrastructure up to more than standards these modernization efforts are not very popular with tourists if you come into a very authentic place like. it should stay the way it is that would be my wish i mean that's the part also the a little you know authentic traditional. i should not i would not like to have it in a shiny condition to be on us this time to change even for the better is not always good for business something that even a local band has become attuned to when they try to add the morning russian songs

to the repertoire of the audience called older wanted to hear it was a song comfortably familiar. to. hello and welcome to crossfire computer with the rise and fall of civilizations for over a century there have been predictions of western decline given the global financial crisis that started in two thousand and eight and the stagnation in much of the western world are some of those predictions coming true and if the west is in decline what will take its place.

to cross-talk to decline of the. i'm joined by alexander graff lamb stores he's in brussels he is the vice president of the liberal group in the european parliament and in some paolo we crossed the pepe escobar he is a journalist and author all right gentlemen cross talk rules in effect that means you can jump in anytime you want to be if i go to you first is the west in decline . but you should ask spangler in fact they're sure that spangler's don't because he said that hundred years ago in fact it's very complicated the west is not declining the middle classes all across the western developed world they're not only declining but they are going off the grid altogether in fact deletes are not declining so if you ask the elites in brussels by the way in washington d.c. they are fighting the decline of the west deuce and nail and this implies financial capitalism.